I arrive Sunday, April 30, 2023 – 4:00 pm
You know you are no longer in Istanbul when the bus driver welcomes you with a smile, before you know it, grabs your bag, and walks you to the bus. A bit puzzled, I figure, his mama must have raised him well.
I arrive at the city center (Datça İskele), hop off the bus, and as I lean to grab my bag a guy from the bus station hurries over and clutches it as if my hand was about to catch fire. With real interest, he inquires where I’m heading, walks away, comes back with a taxi, secures both the bag and me, and waves us goodbye.
Gee, inhumed (how is dat for a word?) in Istanbul for almost a year and a half, I completely forgot what being a good’ol human even means. When I first arrived in Istanbul the cab driver rudely dropped me short of my destination, tailing away before my bag hit the busy street. OK, you might say, cab drivers are notorious all over the globe; I’ll give you another example. Picture this, and keep in mind those are DAILY occurrences: a very old stooped woman crossing the street, not a highway mind you, she is almost midway, a car coming; the driver neither slows down nor allows her to cross. Imagine she is your granny, and watch her, horrified at the possibility of being run over rush with great difficulty to where she started. And all the times I witnessed disabled/ old folks on crutches “intentionally” shoved aside … ON THE ESCALATOR, frail old ladies/ pregnant women struggling not to fall inside the metro while seats are filled with fully-abled young men in their prime …… just adorable!
Call me old fashion if you want, but I call this first and foremost a crisis in masculinity. Why masculinity you say? Because the male species have always been the guardians and protectors of society. And if I wanna add my own two cents here: what about chivalry … I mean hello? A trait and a right of passage for men since time immortal. Chivalry y’all is a trait only the male of the human species possess (I like chivalry, I like men who are 100% men). And don’t give me that women's rights jumble, we both know it has goose egg to do with it. Just because I can deadlift two men and squat one does not mean that’s what I want to do. Pure and simple, it is men folk washing their hands off every single act of responsibility.
Dalli (remember my now seemingly imaginary old and wise friend from the bus): Don’t rush into anything Lana; you seem so ready to like Datça
Me (never taking a hint even if hits me in the face): yes I am
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Leo (I changed names for security reasons – it’s a joke in case you didn’t get it ..jeez- he does look like a Leo though): where else can you walk by the sea, take a dip then go to work and all within a short walking distance. Sometimes I just take the boat and sail away
Me: You have a boat!
Also me (speech bubble): I can ask him to teach me … but that would be stretching it too far, the man has helped enough already- well more of a lifesaver - hmmm, maybe I can teach him to deadlift in return!
As Leo answers a call, I gape at the glistening sea, mind bubbling with all the sailing, water rafting or boarding or snording (I just invented that), and Nemophiling I plan to do …. And barbeques, not sure where this fits in, but somehow it should
Can’t take my eyes off you …
Every day I sit, I stare … enchanted. I don’t want to leave….and I have yet to explore all those magical secluded beaches I have been both hearing and reading about (you have no idea the amount of nerding I am up to my ears with). Honestly, I did not know I had this love of water in me. Yes, I adored the Boğaz – ahem, my Turkish is becoming something coherent here – but isn’t it a fact of life that it be venerated? Call me cheesy, but I did not put two and two together.
Not dropping any bombs but people are quite surprised when I tell them that Datça is my first sea. I am a sea virgin y’all, seriously!
The whole concept of living near the sea and what that meant, ya know things like flip flops – just kidding – is so foreign to me. First off, I am not a “beach typa person”, the whole beach culture, the partying, the drinking … not a fan, give me rugged nature, humans spoil everything, but that’s just me.
So even when I picked a travel destination I always made sure to stay away from beach resorts. For example, I traveled in Turkey, but the idea of hitting the Mediterranean/ Aegean regions did not even exist for me. Second, whether by design or chance, I have always lived inland, desert, mountain, or city …always waterless. So sports were things I did on the ground, and adventure was things like camping, hiking, climbing, safaris …etc
Obviously,, I will not be talking about my Datça experience in this one, so I will just conclude with what I like about Datça so far.
- People are friendly, they smile and say hello
- Strangers stop me all the time and chat
- I am practicing my Turkish because people are patient and encouraging
- A more relaxed and peaceful energy. Non- pretentious, small-town vibe
- It has some of the most magnificent beaches in Turkey
- And some of the most amazing hiking trails in the whole world (the Lycian way – a 30 day hike I have been wanting to do for years- and the Carian trail – new to me and so interesting - both cut through Datça.
- There are other shorter (2 hours or more) trails all over I can literally go on a hike every single day (I already did one and planning my next)
- I love the weekly/ monthly local markets
- THE AIR …. Let’s talk about that. Istanbul has brought me severe seasonal allergies with flu like symptoms that forced me to take meds for months on end. The day my foot stepped into Datça, what I thought of as allergy vanished into thin air
- People smoke, but rarely when they walk, so you are not suffering 24/7, the indoor part of café’s / restaurants are not suffocating with smoke. I am living almost secondhand smoke-free.
- Everything has a price tag on it, especially the Kasap, so there are no special prices for the female Yabancı cash cow.
- Cab drivers are actually nice or just plain normal.
- When people know I am from Jordan, they get excited, some like the fact and are curious, while others are just surprised what i I am doing here. Compare this to Istanbul where merely mentioning I am Jordanian brings scorn; sometimes people just walk away.
- It doesn’t offer much to most travelers, so it will attract only those that match its vibes. By law you cannot build 5 stars hotels and big resorts, only small local 3 stars establishments.
- Men here are good-looking (I bet you did not see this coming), well they are and in a rugged way. They are also more relaxed around women, they speak more freely. One funny thing though, very old men here are really fascinated with female muscle, not a day passes without an old dude stopping me to ask questions, or inviting me for tea. Some of them even cheer for me as I walk by, all in the most pleasant adorable way.
- No one here is high maintenance, or pretentious. People dress/ act in the way they are comfortable with – as far as the eyes see –let’s just say Datça is the antithesis to Cihangir, I like that!
I am sure I will discover more things to love and hate, everything balances out eventually, but till then
To be continued …..
Books I am currently reading